Lindelof on Blockbuster Screenwriting

With that in mind, I’ve given ­Lindelof—who’s written some hugely embiggened pictures and successfully wrestled others down to human scale—a challenge that only a five-star general in Hollywood’s elite fantasy screenwriting corps would have the chops to attempt: Pitch us a summer blockbuster based on something very, very unblockbustery, a simple American tall tale. Let’s say, the ballad of folk hero John Henry: the nineteenth-century ex-slave who raced a steam-tunneler through a mountain, won, and perished, the first martyr in the great war twixt Man and Machine. Lindelof, not missing a beat, tongue firmly in cheek but mind fully engaged, dives in—no notes, no pauses, barely stopping for breath. Then he goes even further, giving us anticipated revisions as the notes come in, as the blockbuster hormones surge, as Story Gravity takes hold. – Vulture

Save this in your read it later app of choice. It’a long read, but worth it.